QH #8: Product Thinking is not just for Product Managers
QH #8: Product Thinking is not just for Product Managers
Why thinking in terms of product drives better outcomes for your business
This is the 8th installment of my “Quick Hitter” (QH) series devoted to delivering a lesson or insight you can digest in a short amount of time.
While writing this post I was inspired by one of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite books:
“If you know the way broadly you will see it in everything.”
― Miyamoto Musashi
Why Product Thinking Matters
Product thinking is not a skill just for product managers and product orgs. This skill applies across disciplines whether marketing, sales, devrel, sales engineering, customer support, etc. Do you want to scale something, an org, a function, an initiative, content, a program, etc.? Then think about it like a product.
I recently spoke with the leader of a community/customer org and it became apparent that they viewed their world as a bunch of activities, content, campaigns, engagements, etc. Product sense and thinking were completely absent and it showed in the chaos and inability to define and prioritize what needed to be done. This is just one example, but it could be anything. Just because it’s marketing or content, doesn’t mean you can’t think of it in terms of it being a product.
Using Product Thinking
The following pattern should immediately awaken your product sense 👉 you deliver value that is distributed to a consumer and exchanged for some value in return (time, money, eyes, clicks, etc), and needs to be repeatable. When you identify this pattern in what you/your team does and apply product thinking, then you realize your “stuff” (e.g. content, activities, projects) can be treated similarly to "conventional" products (e.g. goods and services).
When you deconstruct your business and all its moving parts, you can think of it like the Russian doll analogy -> products within products within products. Viewing the world and your deliverables through the lens of being a product will drive scalable, consistent, and lasting outcomes that keep consumers/prospects/end users/customers happy.
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